Waterproof watch winding means



March 8, 1960 c. HlLL ET AL WATERPROOF WATCH WINDING MEANS Filed April21, 1958 Z6 I 2: Z %TORS United States... Pate Q .7 96:

WATERPROOF WATCH WINDING MEANS Charles Hill, Reno, Nev., and Charles K.Johns, New

York, N. assignors to Hil-Jon Safety Crown Corporation, Brooklyn, N.Y.,a corporation of New York Application April 21, 1958, Serial No. 729,651

1 Claim. or. 58-90) This invention relates to watch winding devices andin particular to waterproofing means for use in such winding devices ascontained in the crown of a watch.

A particular object of the invention is to provide for the waterproofingof a watch crown in which means are provided that will guard againstoverwinding of the watch spring, stripping of the winding gears, excessstrain on the main spring, and rupture of the parts involved in thewinding action so that the watch is protected and the person winding thesame is prevented from overwinding the spring.

A still further object of the invention is to provide in the very smalland compact watches in present day use, a combination winding member,release mechanism and waterproof means that can be applied to thesmallest watches in use without the necessity of providing specialequipment for the assembly of the parts and to provide a device of thecharacter referred to which will give an audible click and also makeitself felt by the fingers of the person winding the watch so thatwarning is given that the spring is fully wound.

Further objects of the invention are to provide a water-.

proofed safety crown device that has a minimum number of parts, that canbe manufactured as a part of the watch or as a separate unit and onethat can be put into the very narrow space allowed in thin small watchesimpairing the efliciency thereof; and to provide a tension member whoseaction and position are coplanar with the parts with which 'it isassociated for release action; and a device that can be made at minimumcost and applied with accuracy and at the same time prevent rust andmoisture from affecting the delicate parts.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention comprisescertain constructions hereinafter described and then particularlypointed out in the claim, and a preferred embodiment of our invention isillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a view in sectional elevation of the winding crown of awatch which is threaded on the stem, the crown showing the waterproofingelements applied thereto,

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view of the crown illustrated in Figure 1 withvarious parts broken away to further illustrate the structure,

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary section of a part of Figure 1showing a modified form of closure, and

Figure 4 is a plan view of one form of tension member employed in thecrown as a release member.

Reference is made to our Patent No. 2,563,112 for a showing of aconventional watch structure to which our present invention may beapplied, the watch representing a pocket watch or wrist watch.

Referring to the drawings in detail, indicates the crown piecedesignated as a winding member, which through an arbor 21 is used toconvey winding action from the usual gear to a spring to be wound. Thespring is not shown but may in wound directly from the arbor or throughintermediate gears. The crown 10 is shaped to provide a hollowreceptacle portion 10B in which is coaxially positioned a tension member16. The crown 10 is of flat cylindrical form providing an annulardepending wall 10A having inner vertical cavities or slots 13 atdiametrically opposite sides of the crown chamher 103.

The crown or winding member 10 as above noted, is vertically fluted toprovide the slots 13 into which extend the prongs 14 formed in thesemicircular flanking portions 15 of a tension disk 16 whosediametrically extending flat narrow central zone 17 is provided withprotuberances or dimples 18. The latter are arranged to engage the slotsor other pocket forming detent openings 19 in a winding plate 20 havingan integral internally threaded sleeve 20A for attachment to the upperend of the watch winding stem or arbor 21. The plate 20 turns on a slidedisk 20B of metal which is supported by a swaged or otherwise formedflange 22 of the crown 10. The prongs 14 and the dimples 18 arepositioned in the oppositely disposed pairs of high and low peripheralareas provided by the zone 17 and its flanking wing portions 15 thatmake up the disk 16.

For the purpose of rendering the crown operating parts free of moistureand dirt, a gasket or disk 23 is positioned over the sleeve 20A and ismade from a compressible waterproof plastic material. The latter isengaged on its under or outer side by a fiat metal compression disk 24which is forced against the gasket to expand the same. This expansionwill cause the gasket 23 to closely hug the inside wall of the crown torender the crown waterproof. The disk 24 is forced against the gasketand securely held by the swage 25 on the lower end of the crown orwinding member 10 to hold the gasket 23 under compression about thesleeve 20A and against the under side of the slide disk 20B. In thismanner the compression of the gasket will not interfere with the freerotation of the winding plate 20 or the attachment of the crown to thewinding stem 21 of a watch.

In Figure 3 the inner wall of the crown may be threaded to receive athreaded compression plate 26 which can be screwed into place with thedesired force to compress the gasket 23 and can then be locked in placeby the turned over or swaged lower edge 27 of the crown.

Our invention is not to be restricted to the precise details ofconstruction shown since various changes and modifications may be madetherein without departing from the scope of the invention or sacrificingthe advantages to be derived from its use.

What we claim is:

A waterproof safety crown device comprising a spring winding andwaterproofing means for a watch or the like including a hollowcylindrical winding crown piece formed to provide vertical slots in theinterior wall thereof, a rotary winding plate in said crown piece havingdetent openings at the periphery thereof, an internally threaded sleevedepending from said rotary plate and adapted to be detachably secured tothe upper end of the winding arbor of a watch, a free flexible diskcoextensive with said rotary plate and shaped to provide oppositelydisposed pairs of high and low peripheral areas of the disk forengagement respectively with said slots of the crown piece and with thedetent openings in the rotary plate for providing a releasable drivingconnection between said crown piece and said winding arbor, a slideplate under said rotary plate and upon which the latter has slidingmovement, an upper flange on said crown underlying the periphery of saidslide plate a waterproof gasket under said sliding plate and upper i3199239292 1 v ,7 1 V flange and surrounding said sleeve, a gasketcompres' 2,669,833 Hill et a1 Feb. 23, 1954 sion disk for holding saidgasket under compression about 2,746,875 Hill et a1. Sept. 6, 1955- saidsleeve and against the underside of said slide disk said compressiondisk constituting a closu re for the FOREIGN TENTS i i VG and a P EQ QSaid 5 6,982 Great Britain Mar. 19, 1910 t. #mPnsQnmg Sal Compress 1S222,297 Switzerland Oct. 16, 1942 References Cited in the file of thispatent 242198 Swltzerland Sept 1946 UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,405,928Feurer Aug. 13, 1945

